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After almost a year of COVID confinement, some of us may find our photographic adventures languishing. Sometime ago Louis Frank sug-
gested that I might offer some COVID conscious ideas for Shutterbug field trips.

Kathy and I have continued taking backroad adventures throughout the pandemic without worrying about official declarations, for I believe
one the safest place to be is in our car driving on a country road - and, we are fortunate to be living in a place surrounded by many hundreds
of miles of such byways. To the west, a vast grid of flatland roads stretches through the rice fields, orchards, and pastures of the Sacramento
Valley. To the east, a confusing web of sinuous foothill and mountain roads wind through the foothills of Gold Country and the Sierra Neva-
da.

Yankee Jim, Iowa Hill, Mosquito Ridge, McCourtney, and North Bloomfield-Graniteville roads all offer visual treats and driving challenges
for flatlanders, and for the faint of heart, Gray Lodge Wildlife Refuge or the levee roads of the Sacramento River provide more mundane
pleasures. But, why even bother getting in your car for a field trip when so much lies immediately around us that is interesting.

Photography has so many aspects that are technical, esthetic, and even psychological. I have always been interested in the fact that I can see
so many more things though a camera’s viewfinder than when I just wander around. The camera focuses my attention.

Let me illustrate this with a series of cellphone images taken during a stroll through our neighborhoods. Here is a very local COVID sensitive
field trip you might want to take with your camera just looking at the “invisible” landscapes of The Club.

Here we are walking along on Of course, if we look down at our feet we will
Kennerleigh, looking at nothing
see a myriad of otherwise unseen details such as the
in particular.
lichens staining the concrete.
Or perhaps other items quite literally underfoot will catch your attention such as variations in surface textures, colors, and patterns.

April 2021 Page 26